Sleep, Harry Potter
by SheWhoIsQuiteMad
Summary: While staying at Grimmauld Place during DH, the Trio finds out one of their members isn't sleeping, and it shows. Can Ron and Hermione help Harry before the exhaustion becomes too much? Oneshot, possibly more if I get interest from you guys. No slash, sorry.


**Disclaimer:** I make no money off of this fan work, nor to I pretend to. All things Harry Potter belong solely to the wonderful J.K. Rowling, whom without we would not have this amazing universe to play with. Thank you, Ms. Rowling!

**Warnings:** Some cursing, nothing _too_ horrible, though, as well as angst and drama.

**Summary:** While staying at Grimmauld Place during DH, the Trio finds out one of their members isn't sleeping, and it shows. Can Ron and Hermione help Harry before the exhaustion becomes too much? Oneshot, possibly more if I get interest from you guys. No slash, sorry.

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Number 12, Grimmauld Place

1:32 a.m., Wednesday, 7th year

Ron was woken from his slumber by a noise coming from the kitchen. It sounded as if someone was sneaking about, trying to be quiet with the china, but failing. Slowly untangling himself from his girlfriend's arm, taking care not to wake her, he grabbed his wand and crept down the hall towards the dining room, a spell ready to loose from his wand if needed.

The door was opened slightly, letting a sliver of wand light into the hallway. He could distinguish the shadows of a person (Harry?) from his spot behind the old wooden door, and ever so slowly, nudged his way silently into the room.

Turns out he needn't have been so quiet- the person looked practically dead on their feet, their back turned towards Ron and completely oblivious to his presence. Squinting in the dim light, Ron managed to make out the ruffled outline of messy hair, and when the figure reached out to adjust his wand's light, the pale pink scars on the back of his left hand.

"Harry?" Ron whispered, not wanting to disturb Hermione in the other room.

The figure whipped around, clumsily grasping his wand and managing to point it at Ron for the briefest second, before catching his ankle on the leg of one of the dining chairs. Ron, very quickly, cast a silencing charm at the dining room door a fraction before a crash echoed through the room, leaving his ears ringing.

Coughing at the sudden cloud of dust, Ron illuminated his wand before moving to help his friend off the floor. Harry looked slightly dazed as he picked up his wand and set it on the tabletop, plopping himself down into a chair- Ron following suit. The bluish glows of their Lumos charms cast eerie shadows on his best friend's haggard face- his tired green eyes looked as if they had been punched the bags were so large and dark, the whites of his eyes bloodshot. Ron could see the thinness of Harry's face, how his cheekbones were more defined, his chin pointier, eyes larger. It could have been the light, but Harry looked... sickly, for lack of a better word.

"Blimey, mate, what happened? You didn't look like this yesterday..." Ron trailed off, puzzled. He noticed now how Harry's clothes, while not completely noticeable, were definitely baggier on his friend's abnormally small frame; though there was nothing new there. Ron knew how living in a cupboard and being over-worked and barely fed for nearly eleven years severely hindered his best friend's growth. Nearly six foot three, Ron towered over Harry's five foot two stature, even Hermione was four inches taller than the messy-haired young adult! And though Harry had always looked like this, bar the obvious exhaustion in his face, Ron was still startled.

Harry gave a tired shrug, eyes visibly trying to stay open as he watched Ron apprehensively. He hadn't planned on waking his best friend up, had hoped he'd been quiet enough, but it appeared not.

Ron looked to be still waiting for an answer, blue eyes concerned as he sat observing his friend. What was Harry supposed to say? That he had been hiding his tiredness from his two best friends with muggle concealer? Hermione would have noticed in an instant if he even tried to use a glamour charm. Was he supposed to needlessly worry them, when there was already so much to worry over in their lives?

Noticing Harry's reluctance to answer, Ron decided to give him a bit of prompting. "Why are you awake already? Can you not sleep, mate?"

Receiving a shake '_no_', Ron continued. "Why not? Is it... _him?_" They both knew what he meant by 'him.'

Harry nodded hesitantly, still not forthcoming.

"What is he doing, Harry? Is he sending you... visions again?"

Finally, a verbal answer. "No, Ron. No visions."

"Then what-?"

Harry sighed tiredly, rubbing furiously at his eyes, wishing he wasn't here having this conversation.

_But would it be so bad, for Ron to know...?_

"I can't sleep," Harry mumbled into his hands.

Ron gave a low snort, "Yeah, I figured that much out for myself, funny enough. What I want to know is why?"

"Erm... well You-Know-Who keeps me awake at night."

"But I thought you said he wasn't sending you visions?"

Harry shook his head. "He isn't. I can't explain it, really. I'm clearing my mind before I go to sleep..."

"But mate, you're rubbish at Occlumency!... No offence."

Harry simply nodded at that last comment. "I've been reading up on it in the library upstairs. It's pretty straightforward, when Snape's not teaching."

Ron grinned, "Imagine that."

They shared a brief smirk, before Harry looked back down to his clasped hands.

"So..." Ron trailed off, noticing the raven's exhausted look. "If you know occlumency, why can't you sleep?"

He looked startled for a moment, like he forgot Ron was sitting with him. "Hm? Oh, right. Well, whenever I fall asleep, after putting my shields up, I usually stay that way for about an hour or so before... before I feel something trying to break into my shields."

"You-Know-Who?"

"Yeah. It wakes me up right away. I try to go back to sleep, but every time I wake up with my shields almost down, and have to build them back up again. Over and over, till I can't sleep at _all_. I never get any rest, cause _he_ wakes me up immediately."

"Blimey," Ron breathed, his eyes wide. "How long has this been going on?"

"...since the beginning of summer..." Harry grumbled, his voice muffled by his folded arms, which he had plopped his head on in exhaustion.

Ron frowned worriedly. In a way, it's worse than crucio, what his best mate's going through. Torturing Harry with no sleep for _months_. Admittedly, Ron thought, it was pretty brilliant. Break the Light Side's Saviour through a drawn-out torture he can't escape from.

"You won't tell 'Mione, will you?" Harry asked quietly, his large green eyes imploring, causing Ron to nervously rub the back of his head.

"I dunno, mate. She might be able to help, y'know? Maybe you should tell her about this."

Harry looked incredibly doubtful, his eyes drooping as he struggled to stay awake.

"You can't do this on your own, Harry," Ron added softly.

The green-eyed man buried his face in his arms before his best friend could see his tears, brought on by stress and pure exhaustion.

"It's _so hard_, Ron. I've tried everything I can think of! Dreamless sleep, meditation, even muggle medicine! Nothing works..." he sniffed quietly, unable to stifle his shaking.

"I'm just so tired." Harry added softly, looking up at his friend, eyes wet with tears. "I can't go on like this."

Ron felt his heart break as he looked at his best mate of seven years, his _brother_, in such pain. "I'm gonna help you Harry, I swear. If I have to kill that bastard myself, to get you some peace, I will. You're family to me, Harry, and family takes care of one another."

Harry gave the redhead a tremulous grin, knowing that, even in the midst of a war, his friends are there to have his back.

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**A/N:** Shall I continue? I know I haven't updated any of my other fics in forever, due to personal reasons and plain old writer's block, but this is one story that I've been contemplating for a while. The plot just gripped me and hasn't let go in _months_, and now that I have finally started writing it, I don't anticipate stopping (almost done with the 2nd chapter now, in fact). I'm just waiting to see if you guys think it's worth continuing, cause while I _do_ love writing, the best part is in knowing that others love my writing, too. So, please review? It would mean a lot to me :)


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